iStock: What do you want from me???

I recently applied to istock, which is an online stock photography service. The idea is that all these photographers submit images, which advertisers, graphic artists, etc can then purchase and use according to your licensing. It has proven quite the revenue stream in the past for many photographers. I have no illusions that I’ll make as much off it annually as I do with wedding photography, nor do I expect to make much of it anytime soon. But it’s worth getting my work out there.

You have to apply, though, and submit some work to qualify for it. So you read all these things, then do a quiz – perfectly fine, as I should understand their guidelines. Then I submit three samples.

My first three were apparently too similar in theme. Two of them were the following:

So, I tried again. I figured if they didn’t complain about the quality, just the thematic similarity, then perhaps I should show off something different. So I submitted the following:

And now…apparently my photos are not up to their quality standards.

Ugh. I’ve now asked them whether they want me to send something in between or what.